NEW LAND BILL

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 28, 28 October 1919, Page 4

NEW LAND BILL

REFORM OF LAND PURCHASE SYSTEM

DRASTIC AGGREGATION CLAUSES HOMESTEAD SETTLEMENTS The Land Laws Amendment Bill, introduced last night by Governor's Message, is one of the most important land Bills that have been introduced into the Houso for many years. The main purpose of the Bill is the improvement) of the methods of acquisition mid settlement of land. It provides for the appointment of a land purchase controller, and the officer. who now is land purchase inspector :s to he deemed tu be appointed to the new office. The Dominion Land Purchase Hoard is to consist of the Lend I'uiv 1, v ' • - trailer, the Under-Secretary of Crown Lands, the Surveynr-Gvnenl, and any other person appointed by the ' iuvoriiorGeneral. This board is to exercise nil the powers vested previously m the Board of Land Purchase Commissioners. For the purpose of assisting tiie Dominion Land Purchase Board in the exercise c.i' it's functions as purcha-ing authority for the Government, local land /purchase boards are to be appointed, one or more for each land district. The personnel of these local boards is In re Uie (V''missioner of Crown Lands for the district, and three other persons to be appointed from time io time h.v ilie Gov-ernor-General. Members of the Dominion Land Purchase Beard arc to foe cxotiicio members of local boards. Members of both Dominion and local land purchase boards are to be appointed for a term of two years, and provision is made for their reappointment, or for their rewoval from office for inefficiency, disability, insolvency, neglect of duly, or misconduct. A big clause of the Bill is intended to re-establish a form of lemire similar Io that formerly known as the homestead settlements. It is proposed that the land board of any district, hem; satisfied that any laud is noc suitable for disposal under any of the tenures on which Crown lands ninv he disposed of under the Land Act of 1908, may dispose ot them under this new ' method. No person is to he allowed to hold more I linn four hundred acres of secondclass land or 1(100 acres of third-class land, except with tht approval of the Minisiir, given on tho recommendation of the board, and in no case is the area to bo more than 000 acres of second-class hind, or 1500 acres of third-class land. No first-class land is to be disposed of under this scheme. lands are to be disposed of under license to occupy, the license being for a term of ten vears, and no rent or other charge is to he made for the right of occupation. Within twelve months the licensee is rcauired to.erect a suitable dwelling on the land, and thereafter to reside on the dwelling, within twelve, months of the issue of the license to him. To assist the settler in tho development of his holding, for it may be presumed that the land bo settled under this scheme will be laud in need of development, the Government may make to him advances bv way of loan. The amount spent in reading the area settled may ho apportioned by the Crown among the settlers, and charged against them as a loan, hearing interest payable by them. After seven years of occupation the licensee is to bo entitled to become the owner in fee simple of the land, but the certificate of title is to be subject to all the. encumbrances to which, the licenso was subiect at the time of issue of the title. No license is to be transferable, and an agreement to transfer is to he void as such, and to be held to Ix? a surrender of the license to the Crown. Monevs nre to be borrowed for the purpose of assisting the licensees by way of loan, and these moneys arc to establish the Waste Lands Development Account. The amount to be borrowed in nnv year must not exceed a million. The Governor-Gencral-in-Council, it is proposed, shall bo empowered to make regulations prescribing, inter alia, the improvements to be effected by licensees, conditions as to the surrender and forfeiture of licenses, and the conditions on which advances may be made. A clause which may have some local importance here and there allows the sale of ten acres (instead of five) of Crown land, as a site for a dairy factory. A clause is in the Bill relating to special districts constituted under the Act of 1913. The new' clause prescribes that the Crown may agree to nay to the local authority all revenues from Crown lands within the district to be used in satisfaction of loans raised for the construction of roads and bridges to afford accede; to lands within such special district, and for the payment of interest in respect of such loan. There arc some important clous;.? intended to restrict or prevent aggregation of land. It has always been claimed by those living near to the country concerned that aggregation has gone on i:i the leasrg of pastoral runs from the Crown. It is now proposed that if a man is tho holder of more than one pastoral license, ho is not to be entitled to a renewal of his license. his wife is the holder of another licenso, one only of the two licenses may is renewea';' Vico versa, if the wife apply for renewal of a license, she shall not he entitVid to a renewal if her husband is the holler of another license. Another clause dealing with frifjjold land is as follows:— _ ',';. Where any land acquired by way if aggregation is taken by the Crown pn> suant to tho provisions in that belia" of section 65 of tho Land Laws Amsiv ment Act. 1913. the right to receive con pensation therefor shall be_ limited a hereinafter provided, that is to nay:-' (a) In the case of land acauired by wa\ of purchase, the compensation shall not exceed the Government valuation of tha land, as herein defined, with an addi lional amount equal to 10 per centum thereof; and (b) in tho case of land acquired otherwise than by purchase the compensation shall not exceed the 6iim at which tho land was assessed for tho purposes of stamp duty. (2) For fhc purposes of this section, tho Government valuation of any land taken by the Crown as aforesaid ehnll ho the capital value thereof as assessed in tho district valuation roll in force under tho Valuation of Land Act, 1908. at tho tinio of its acquisition by the purchaser. If tho land so taken or any part thereof is ' not separately valued in the said valuation roll, but is only a part of a larger area that is so valued, the Government valuation of the part so taken shall ho deemed to be such proportion of the capital value of tho said larger area as the Valuer-General determines to .be fairly attributable to the part so taken. The only other clause of general interest, is that which restores to a returned soldier who prior to enlistment had been the holder of a lease in perpetuity over lands the right to acquire tho freehold of those land, in tho event of his right having expired while he was on active service, lie is to be allowed one year from the dnlo of passing ot the Act within which to complete the purchase of the land. •